I don’t want to invade Jang Dong Yoon’s private life. What he does, romantically, in real life, is his own business and none of our beeswax.
However, since we’re all missing Tale of Nokdu, let’s amuse ourselves by dreaming of our favorite kiss scene for his character, Nokdu. We’ll see how our expectations line up with reality. We’ll be grading on execution, (ha!), swoon-effects, tenderness/roughness, closed/open eyes, hair/neck touching, manliness (yes, MANliness. Please take your “woke” bullshit elsewhere. This is a Korean romcom we’re watching), and romance.
Oh! For cinematography, I’ll also check the use of the bokeh light effect.
My expectation for their first kiss is this:
But I’m sure I’m going to get this:
But I’m almost inclined to give Nokdu a full 10 points if he can contain himself and doesn’t squeal in protest that he’s been kissed. He guards his modesty too much…except for this scene.
Go on. Tell me how YOU’ll write the script for their first kiss.
Question to go with the scenario. Will Nokdu be in his widow Kim guise when the kiss happens, or will he be in his manly guise? Or somewhere in between? Or is the answer a given since this is a kdrama?
Well, Nokdu is very innocent person who’s been living isolated on an island so I think the first kiss would be very sweet and soft. He’s got to work up to things, you know? However, sweet and soft does not mean “dead fish lips” or “I’m a block of wood”. (By the way, your fish lips gif is OK ’cause those fish lips are alive and moving) In my senario, Nokdu and Dongju would be alone together out by the river, maybe doing laundry or he’s helping her with something, and he tells her that he likes her and she says she likes him too and then he leans down and softly kisses her and Dongju kisses him back/responds. It’s a soft and sweet kiss but they are both participating. What I don’t want is: bug eyes/”surprise”, anybody frozen in terror or scrunching up their face like they swallowed a bug or looking like they are about to vomit. I also don’t want anyone acting like a telephone pole and giving no response at all. And please, director, no weird camera angles or that thing where the lips are half on and half off the other person’s lips because it just looks strange.
The trend lately is to have the 2 actors touch lips and then everybody freeze in place, like you hit the pause button. I don’t really like it because I think it comes off as awkward and just weird to the viewers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we had something like that. I guess we will see. (Sorry for the rant-I’ve reached my limit again with crappy kiss scenes in Asian dramas that come off more as one person sexually assaulting the other rather than an expression of love between 2 people, so my tolerance level is super low these days. I will recover with time. Well, I’ll have to if I want to keep on watching the Asian dramas.)
@Flying Tool- I hadn’t thought about it, but I go with he is still “in disguise” as a lady for the first kiss. (Although you are correct-it couldn’t happen that way on the TV)
Kdramas love accidental kiss too (Flower crew can talk about it) and they live together leading to a lot of potential accidents.
So I hope something between your 2 gifs (the fish’s gif is pretty funny :p) but I think I would prefer nothing if we get an awkard kiss scene.
In his widow outfit? 😈 Subversive!
But hey… if you noticed, I didn’t mention with whom. It could very well be with one of the male suitors. 😂
Good points, @table122000. 👍
Well in the preview, NokDu is being princess carried by the second male lead. And in another scene NokDu has his hands on either side of a trapped SML in the classic preparing-to-strike position. The SML has a suitably(?does he know or doesn’t he?) horrified look on his face.
In his widow Kim guise, with the second male lead.
😂 This is groundbreaking. Two men kiss on KBS, which receives government funding, and the the scene didn’t get censored. 😂😂 Was it up against the tree?
Hahaha! Visually, it’s not two men… It’s a man and a widow! Hahaha…
“ This is groundbreaking. Two men kiss on KBS”
I thought Moonlight Drawn By Clouds (also on KBS) set that precedent? Crown Prince and his eunuch.
Not in front of the tree. Around a large festive table at the Gibang in front of numerous witnesses!
Really? There was a kissing scene there, too? I didn’t know that.
Whoa! I have to watch this soon.
I guess that answers your question then. Yulmo doesn’t know that Nokdu is male. I guess the runaway assassin, Yulmo and his bodyguard captured, didn’t squeal. And the real Widow Kim didn’t either.
(I’m assuming they were the ones lurking in the woods that time…)
Have you ever had a post on how a particular character will kiss? I think this is my first time seeing it. 😁
I haven’t seen the episode but the kiss between Yulmo and Nokdu was longer and more pressing. LOL. The kiss of Nokdu and DongJoo was short and tender (pretty much what @Table122000 described, except this one it’s not freezed) and oh the most important bit there was that Nokdu looked manly alright. 😉 He was going for a second kiss but Yulmo opened the door and that’s when he knew Nokdu is a man.
This is all from instagram. 😆
If Flower Crew PD likes KMJ’s hands, then Tale of Nokdu PD likes to show off JDY’s abs. Ya! I’m not complaining here. 🤣
lol. So hands vs abs.
Are they about the same age? Who’s older? JDY looks younger but I always get fooled with Asian appearances.
That’s the nice thing about having a blog. I don’t have to worry about mods and forum rules. So yeaaaah. We can have a thread on how a character kiss if there’s a demand for it.
With Moonlight Drawn By The Clouds, Lee Yeong already knew Hong Ra-on was a woman before their fist kiss happened. 🙂
JDY is 27 years old while KMJ is 22 years old.
They both look like 20 to me. 😄
Yeah, I was right.
If there was a “The Price is Right” version for Asian ages, I’d be eliminated in the first round of the game. There’s no way I’ll be able to guess their right ages.
I thought KMJ was older.
How about Yeo Jin Goo? He must be in his 20s now, too.
YJG is 22 years old. 🙂
Just had a thought, at what age is the military compulsory service? I’m just starting to appreciate this young actors, hopefully it will be another 4 years or so before they go to military.
We can have a thread on how a character kiss if there’s a demand for it.
Thanks! 😄 There is a demand for it, I’m like @Table122000 , waiting for a really good kiss. I haven’t seen any lately in kdramas but in cdramas though, I have. 🙂
There might be three of us waiting then for the good kiss/kisses, @Sayaris and @Table122000 😀
For kiss scene between two men, MBC Kill Me, Heal Me had one. Ji Sung’s character had different personalities and one was a young girl and she/he kissed Park Seo Joon 😀 It was more funny than romantic.
I agree age is hard to guess. I thought KMJ was older too.
@agdr03> But there are good kiss scenes in Kdrama! Like the actress and her manager in Be Melodramatic!
I didn’t watch the last episode, so I’m curious now!
I don’t feel like the story has built up to a situation for a good kiss yet. I do hope that it will be a moment to savour, a confession, and an indulgence without someone interrupting them! What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim has the most realistic, passionate kisses I have seen so far.
@Sayaris , yes, Kill Me Heal Me had a good kiss scene between Ji Sung’s character and Park Seo Joon’s character. I loved that drama.
I haven’t seen Be Melodramatic kiss scene but I agree with @Grace , WWWSK had great kisses. It’s probably the one to stand out for me for now. I haven’t seen Encounter with Park Bo Gum so I can’t say anything on that too. But from Youtube it looks much better than his kiss scene in Moonlight Drawn By The Clouds. 🙂
@agdr03> I think for Moolight Drawn By The Clouds, it was more about the age of Kim Young Jung. Because PBG already had kiss scenes in Reply 1988 that looked good. But now KYJ is not so young anymore. She had great kiss scenes in Clean With Passion For Now and with Kim Kyun Sang who is very tall, so it was pretty challenging for her.
After, you know that some actors always have good kiss scenes like Park Seo Joon or Park Min Young so yes WWWSK’s kiss scenes were good.
Thanks @Sayaris 🙂 So it’s because of KYJ’s age. Yes, PSJ and PMY are good kissers. I know a few others too that’s good in kissing scenes. I have yet to watch PBG in Reply 1988 so I should be able to see how good he is. hehehhe
Well, so the first kiss for this drama was actually between the male leads and I have to say- JDY did a nice job with that kiss. It was relaxed and natural and, dare I say, had a bit of passion to it. Kang Tae Oh of course had the “surprise” look down pat, but nice touch of the director to include the “hand curl/clutch” of the clothes to indicate a bit of feeling as well. Kudos to both actors for just going for it 100%- shows what dedicated professionals they really are. I’ve seen some other BL dramas and the love scenes are often very stilted and unnatural. JDY seems to naturally tilt his head for the cameras, showing he already knows how to work for best angles to make kiss look good. JDY & KTO both pursed their lips for the scene so that helps to make it look more natural as well.
The second kiss with Kim So Hyun was OK. It was a soft and sweet kiss, rather chaste which was fitting to the context of the scene and the characters. It was another relaxed and natural kiss. Again, JDY slightly tilts his head for the cameras, so the angle is flattering. And he very slightly parts his lips, which shows he’s got some experience in kissing in real life and also that works well for the cameras. Unfortunately, with KSY he has that lips half on/half off which I don’t like because I think it looks weird. I’m pretty sure director staged it that way in order for viewers to better see KSH/Dong Ju facial expressions/reaction to the kiss, but I still don’t like it. Now I did see criticism of this kiss at other forums as being “too stiff” and that KSH/Dong Ju was not responding/doing a poor job, and that the kiss itself was not passionate enough. For me, it was OK because it makes sense in the scene that Dong Ju would not respond because she is fighting her feelings for ND. She is actively willing herself not to respond to him. Nok Du and Dong Ju are newbies to love and kissing, so of course it’s going to be a very soft and sweet moment. Kudos to KSH for not freezing up/acting like a block of wood/scrunching up her face/looking sick. So can he kiss?? I would say “Yes”, and I look forward to confirming that I’m right when we have a (hopefully) more passionate kiss scene between Nok Du & Dong Ju later in the drama. Don’t let me down, Nok Du and PD-nim!
Good points, Table122000.
But it’s weird seeing Nokdu bare-chested and sweaty. He looked like they already had a make-out session. The Barnes and Noble bookstore I frequent has this aisle of romance books that I must walk through to get to my usual section. I have to stifle a laugh when I look at the titillating book covers of Fabio-looking guys holding women in their arms.
So when I saw Nokdu’s “gleaming torso” I didn’t know whether to laugh or to gasp. Awkward.
Yes, I was like “what??” I kind of felt a little shy. Hahaha! Yes, it was a surprise when ND come into the room half naked and then no reaction from Dong Ju either, like she totally used to seeing him that way. But as I say in other post, I believe that director stage it that way so that it shows ND is “baring himself” to Dong Ju. He no longer hiding anything from her. Also, easy way to emphasize ND is a man when kissing DJ, not a woman.
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